‘We felt it was an experiment worth conducting’ - the British breeding powerhouses taking a ‘punt’ on Japanese superstar Equinox

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On this occasion, James Thomas speaks to Julian Dollar about the decision to send one of operation's mares to be covered by a Japanese superstar – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Japanese breeding is revered the world over. The country is famed for producing tough, talented and sound horses who typically come into their own over middle distances. Recent notable examples include the famous Breeders’ Cup double of Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine, Saudi Cup scorer Forever Young and Danon Decile, who romped away with this year’s Dubai Sheema Classic. Each has deservedly earned their share of worldwide acclaim.

But the teams behind Lordship Stud and Newsells Park Stud are no longer among those simply admiring the Japanese industry from afar. The two operations partner on a particularly well-related broodmare, and put their money where their mouth is when they sent her to the champion Equinox last year. This bold mating plan means they are now the proud breeders of a strikingly bred filly foal who arrived on February 23.

“For a start we got a filly, which is what you always want with these top families,” says Julian Dollar, general manager of Newsells Park. “It was an opportunity we felt we had to take and I’m delighted with the result because we’ve got a really classy foal. She's an attractive dark bay with a lovely round white star. She takes after mum in terms of she’s going to be tall, I’m sure, but she’s got a lot of quality and range and good movement. At this stage I don’t know what the plan will be with her, but it would be lovely if we could race her. Maybe that’s what the partnership will do. But, either way, she’s a nice filly to have.”

The blue-blooded youngster is the fifth foal out of Waldlied, who won the Group 2 Prix de Malleret during her time on the track. The dam is a sibling to five winners, most notably her three-parts brother Waldgeist, who got the better of Enable to land the 2019 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The Harris family of Lordship Stud bought into the daughter of New Approach when the partnership between Newsells and Dietrich von Boetticher was dissolved during the December Sales in 2021. The hammer fell at 2,200,000gns.

Connections felt this pedigree’s Classic roots, with Waldlied’s dam also being a half-sister to St Leger winner Masked Marvel, made the ideal match for Equinox, who won six Group 1s between ten and 12 furlongs. These included the Dubai Sheema Classic, Takarazuka Kinen, Tenno Sho and the Japan Cup, efforts that earned the son of Kitasan Black the title of the World’s Best Racehorse in 2023. He retired with an official rating of 135.

“Everyone was a big admirer of Equinox and what he achieved,” says Dollar. “He’s an exciting stallion prospect for Japan as a Horse of The Year, and he’s a proper middle-distance stallion being a ten and 12 furlong horse. As Waldlied was barren that year the opportunity presented itself to send her to Japan and to use a really top-class Classic distance horse, and travel with negligible risk. It was a really interesting idea and we felt it was an experiment worth conducting.”

Of course, sending a broodmare the 7,890-odd miles from Newsells Park in Hertfordshire all the way to Shadai Stallion Station is no small undertaking. Nor is it cheap, and that is before you factor in the stud fee of ¥20,000,000, which converts to roughly £105,000. Dollar says travel and transport came to “about 50 grand, maybe a bit more,” but that the burden was eased thanks to the support of transport company IRT, as well as Waldlied’s custodians once she arrived in Japan.

“It wasn’t the easiest undertaking but Shadai and Northern Farm, who are both clients of Newsells, helped us with that,” he says. “Northern Farm did a superb job with her. I went out there last autumn and saw her and she looked fantastic. We were considering keeping her over there for another year, but ultimately decided to bring her home.”

The Harris family of Lordship Stud bought into Waldlied at the Tattersalls December Sales in 2021 for 2,200,000gnsCredit: Laura Green

Despite the costs involved, it was not until after Equinox and Waldlied met that Dollar first saw the stallion up close.

“We’d seen the online footage and videos of his races but none of us had actually seen him in the flesh, so the mating was a bit of a punt in that respect,” he says. “Equinox is very impressive; he stands a good 16.2 [hands high], he’s a big, powerful horse with lots of presence.

“They’re both big horses. I did come back thinking the offspring is going to have plenty of size. But, at the end of the day, we were open to racing the progeny, especially if we got a filly, and that meant the commercial aspect wasn’t so important.”

It was not just the horseflesh that impressed Dollar, either.

“It was fascinating to go over there and see the whole set-up,” he says. “The studs and facilities were fantastic and the training facilities exceptionally so, I thought. They have covered straight five or six furlong tunnels going up a hill – they were something else to behold. There were covered oval rides that were six or eight furlongs round. It was phenomenal, the things they do there. The training facilities were really impressive, as were all the stud facilities. It reminded me a lot of Kentucky from my time there.”

Although sending a mare to Equinox may not have been an exercise in generating revenue, Dollar has previously described Newsells Park as an “unashamedly commercial” breeder. Few, if any, have enjoyed more success on this front.

Last year saw Newsells Park top the Book 1 consignors’ chart for the seventh year in a row. The 26 yearlings they sold generated receipts of 17,185,000gns, and featured two of the top three lots, including the 4,400,000gns Frankel filly bought by Amo Racing. Kia Joorabchian also paid 4,800,000gns when Newsells offered Irish Oaks winner You Got To Me during the December Sales.

Although the operation has never previously bred to a Japanese stallion, the idea had been explored as a potential commercial avenue before.

“We did look at sending a couple of mares over some years ago, before Graham [Smith-Bernal] purchased the stud,” says Dollar. “We were looking at it from a commercial point of view and potentially selling a nice foal in their big Select Sale in July. But it’s difficult to do that and it’s not the easiest as a foreigner to sell commercially in that sale. Unfortunately neither Shadai nor Northern Farm would have been able to consign that filly foal for us if we’d tried to do it. Harry Sweeney very kindly offered that to us [this year] but ultimately the partners decided they didn’t want to keep the mare there.”

The partnership between Lordship and Newsells is not the first example of major European breeders tapping into Japanese bloodlines. The late, great Deep Impact became a real focal point, as highlighted by the European Classic success of horses such as Auguste Rodin, Beauty Parlour, Saxon Warrior, Snowfall and Study Of Man. The Coolmore partners also bred a St Leger winner by Heart’s Cry in Continuous.

Auguste Rodin, Saxon Warrior and Study Of Man are now also making their mark at stud, with the latter among the most upwardly mobile young stallions around.

“It’s nice to get some different blood in,” says Dollar. “We probably should’ve done it before, because we’ve seen over the last decade or so just how successful Japanese breeders are in breeding these top-class middle distance horses.

“We’re fortunate enough to look after mares and foals for Shadai and Northern Farm, and the Wertheimers, who have often sent mares to Japan to go to those sorts of stallions. Coolmore obviously used the proven stallions with great success too, so I think a few people are doing it. We’ve probably been a bit slow on the uptake, to be honest.”

The Equinox filly pictured with her mother Waldlied at Newsells Park in HertfordshireCredit: M3 Media

Dollar also expresses his view on where Japan is getting it right – and perhaps where others are straying wide of the mark.

“The Japanese are happy to absolutely focus on the best middle-distance horses they can,” he says. “At the same time, we seem to be foregoing that heritage that we’ve built up over the years. It’s one of those weird imponderables that none of us seem to be able to work out how the best racing is reserved for those middle distance races, the Classics, and yet we seem to be hellbent on breeding to speed and precocity at the expense of what we’ve been good at for decades.”

Newsells Park has already bred one winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in this filly’s relation Waldgeist. While it is, obviously, far too early to say whether this youngster will make up into a contender in due course, connections are, for the time being, well entitled to dream.

“The grand dam, Waldlerche, was with Andre Fabre and she was favourite for the French Oaks before she had a setback,” says Dollar. “Her first foal Waldgeist won the Arc, the half-sister, Waldlied, was going to be supplemented for the Arc as a three-year-old filly. That sort of mile and a half trip is certainly what we have in mind for this filly.

“The mare is from a proper Classic family. This is the original family that Klaus Jacobs brought into Newsells way back in 2000 when he first bought the stud. The grand dam, Waldmark, was the first horse he ever bought for the farm. It’s a special family to Newsells and Graham [Smith-Bernal], who subsequently purchased the stud, really treasures it as well.”

A good result, be that on the track or in the ring, would be no more than connections deserve for having the ambition to breed the best to the best on a global scale.

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